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Celina Grace
Newest Release
I’ve been trying to get published as a writer since…. um… er…um…see, it was that long ago I can’t remember. A long time. I make it fifteen years and counting….
I’ve also been writing for as long as I can really remember. I wrote my first story, The Blue Ruby, when I was about seven (if I can find that deathless prose scribbled in an exercise book somewhere, I might upload it here for a bit of light relief). Throughout college and university, I experimented with screenplays and scripts (I was studying Film and English at the time at the University of East Anglia), as well as other more short stories. In my twenties, I started my first novel, finished it, then my second, then my third. In my thirties, I was slightly side-tracked by the birth of my son but, leaving aside that trifling distraction, managed to write my fourth..
I didn’t bother trying to get the first novel published as I saw it as more of a practise run at this business of being an author. With the second, I entered the 2004 Lit Idol competition and got to third place. That was my ticket to publication, I thought, surely? Hah! Just the first in a long line of disappointments, of which every writer must be familiar… hopes built up to then be smacked down again. I had an agent approach me after the competition and on their encouragement, I finished, edited and polished the manuscript, sent it off to them with happy hopes – to be told months later that they didn’t think it was quite right for them..
Gutted, but enthusiasm relatively undimmed, I started on a new novel, inspired in part by the dramatic events of 2005 – the London bombings. I also wrote a short story at the same time on the same subject – it was on my mind a lot that summer (unsurprisingly. Freedom Fighter is the story – available on Amazon as part of The Mourning After short story collection). This novel The House on Fever Street (written under my maiden name Celina Alcock) was shortlisted for the 2006 Crime Writers’ Association Debut Dagger Award. Aha, I thought, a fairly prestigious and industry recognised award. This will get me published. Did it? Did it buggery!.
The House on Fever Street was also longlisted in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award of that year, which garnered me some nice reviews and a much needed ego boost but didn’t advance my career as a published author much further..
So what next for our doughty heroine? She ups and writes her fourth novel, gains an agent and thinks now, now I have finally made it as a published author! And she waits. And waits. And waits some more. And then waits a bit more. And a bit more. Finally, for variety, she waits a bit more..
So, after two years of waiting, reading about self-publishing on Amazon and other platforms, I believe a phrase that ends in ‘…for a game of soldiers’ passed my lips and I decide to publish myself. So I did. And here I am on Amazon, making sales. No publisher. No agent. Just me..
And that makes me VERY happy.
Full Series List in Order
An Asharton Manor Mystery
1 - Death at the Manor (Jun-2014)2 - A Prescription for Death (Jun-2014)
3 - The Rhythm of Murder (Jul-2014)
4 - Number Thirteen, Manor Close (Sep-2014)
A Kate Redman Mystery
1 - Hushabye (Dec-2013)2 - Requiem (Jan-2014)
3 - Imago (Feb-2014)
4 - Snarl (Apr-2014)
5 - Chimera (Dec-2014)
6 - Echo (Apr-2015)
7 - Creed (Aug-2015)
7.5 - Joy (Nov-2015)
8 - Sanctuary (Nov-2015)
8.5 - Valentine (Mar-2016)
9 - Siren (Jul-2016)
9.5 - Descent (Mar-2017)
10 - Pulse (Oct-2016)
11 - Fury (Jun-2018)
11.5 - Tasteful (Aug-2019)
12 - Scimitar (Feb-2020)
13 - Performance (Jul-2020)
Miss Hart and Miss Hunter Investigate
1 - Murder at Merisham Lodge (Feb-2016)2 - Death at the Theatre (Jun-2016)
3 - The Hidden House Murders (Sep-2017)
Book List in Order: 33 titles
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Lost Girls
- Nov-2012
- / Thriller
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Twenty three years ago, Maudie Sampson’s childhood friend Jessica disappeared on a family holiday in Cornwall. She was never seen again.
In the present day, Maudie is struggling to come to terms with the death of her wealthy father, her in...
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Death at the Manor
- Jun-2014
- / Suspense
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**Please note - this is a novella-length piece of fiction (about 20 thousand words)**It is 1929. Asharton Manor stands alone in the middle of a pine forest, once the place where ancient pagan ceremonies were undertaken in honour of the goddess Astart...
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A Prescription for Death
- Jun-2014
- / Suspense
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*Please note - this is a novella-length piece of fiction (about 20 thousand words)* "I had a surge of kinship the first time I saw the manor, perhaps because we'd both seen better days." It is 1947. Asharton Manor, once one of the most beautiful stat...
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The Rhythm of Murder
- Jul-2014
- / Historical
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*Please note, this is a novella-length piece of fiction - about 20 thousand words* It is 1973. Eve and Janey, two young university students, are en route to a Bristol commune when they take an unexpected detour to the little village of Midford. Seduc...
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Number Thirteen, Manor Close
- Sep-2014
- / Mystery
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**Please note - this is a novella-length piece of fiction (about 20 thousand words)** It is 2014. Beatrice and Mike Dunhill are finally moving into a house of their own, Number Thirteen, Manor Close. Part of the brand new Asharton Estate, Number Thi...
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Murder at Merisham Lodge
- Feb-2016
- / Historical Mystery
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A mansion, a title and marriage to a wealthy Lord â€" Lady Eveline Cartwright has it all. Unfortunately, it’s not enough to prevent her being bludgeoned to death one night in the study of Merisham Lodge, the family’s country estate in Derbyshire....
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Death at the Theatre
- Jun-2016
- / Historical Mystery
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London, 1932. Kitchen maid, Joan Hart, and lady’s maid, Verity Hunter, intend to enjoy their trip to the theatre, especially as Verity’s uncle Tommy is one of the leading men in the play. Unfortunately, Act Two of the play is curtailed when the l...
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The Hidden House Murders
- Sep-2017
- / Historical Mystery
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It is 1934. Returning to the West Country after their latest adventure in London, lady's maid Verity Hunter and cook Joan Hart are ready to embrace a quieter life. Their mistress, the glamorous young heiress Dorothy Drew, is attempting to rein in her...
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Performance
- Jul-2020
- / General Fiction
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The strangled body of a young woman is discovered in a park in the West Country town of Abbeyford, clad in a leopard skin coat but with no identification, no phone, no handbag. DI Kate Redman and her team take on the case and manage to identify the v...
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A Murder in Mayfair
- Jan-2023
- / Mystery
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It is 1936. Undercook Joan Hart and lady's maid Verity Hunter are back in London after a long stay in the country. The capital is fraught and unsettled. Protests and riots are taking place regularly, fascism is on the rise and trouble in Europe is br...
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A Crime at Christmas
- Nov-2023
- / General Fiction
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It's 'Stir-Up Sunday', 1936, and kitchen maid Joan Hart is busy making the Christmas pudding. Her best friend Verity Hunter, lady's maid to socialite Dorothy Drew, is tasked with adding the lucky sixpences, and makes a wish that her mistress will fin...
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The Kate Redman Mysteries Volume 5
- Dec-2023
- / General Fiction
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Performance (A Kate Redman Mystery: Book 13) The strangled body of a young woman is discovered in a park in the West Country town of Abbeyford, clad in a leopard skin coat but with no identification, no phone, no handbag. DI Kate Redman and her ...
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Soul Trader
- Apr-2024
- / Fantasy
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THIS IS A SHORT STORY OF AROUND 3000 WORDS. IT IS NOT A FULL LENGTH NOVEL.Milton the demon prowls the shadowy streets of Abbeyford, seeking souls to fulfill his nightly quota. But Seren, an angel with an annoyingly compassionate streak, has other ide...
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Looking for Mr Right
- Dec-2024
- / General Fiction
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THIS IS A SHORT STORY OF APPROXIMATELY 3000 WORDS. IT IS NOT A FULL LENGTH NOVEL.Lonely, vulnerable and grieving the death of her mother, Joanne spends all day working with colleagues who don't quite understand her. She spends her nights online, sear...
